Millions of people have now been vaccinated against SARS-COV-2 and new vaccine candidates are being approved by countries around the world. Yet infection numbers and deaths continue rising worldwide, and new strains of the virus are emerging. With barely a year's worth of clinical data on protections offered by the current batch of vaccines, numerous questions remain as to just how effective these different vaccines will be in ending this pandemic.

Join us today at 2 PM ET for a discussion with vaccine and immunology experts, organized by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). We'll answer questions on how the current COVID vaccines work (and what the differences are between the different vaccines), what sort of protection the vaccine(s) offer against current, emerging and future strains of the virus, and how the various vaccine platforms used to develop the COVID vaccines can be used to fight against future diseases. Ask us anything!

With us today are:

• Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D., FASTMH (u/MEBNSTM)- Associate Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
• Dr. A. Oveta Fuller, Ph.D. (u/TrustMessenger)- Associate Professor, African Studies Center International Institute; Microbiology and Immunology Department, University of Michigan Medical School
• Dr. Kevin McCarthy, Ph.D. (u/mccarthy_kr)- Assistant Professor, Center for Vaccine Research; Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh
• Dr. Angela Rasmussen, Ph.D. (u/angie_rasmussen)- Affiliate, Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security

Links:

• https://asm.org/Videos/Immunological-Memory-to-SARS-CoV-2-Microbial-M-1
• https://asm.org/Press-Releases/2020/ASM-Initiatives-for-COVID-19